and the NWA championship would be at stake in each match. The series began on May 13, 2012, in Glendale, California with a First Blood match in which Cabana would retain. Stage Two and a second Cabana win took place on June 8, 2012, with a Boston Street Fight, taking place in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Pearce would ultimately go down 3-0 in the series, dropping the fall in the Stage Three "I Quit" match, which took place on July 7, 2012, in Hopkins, Minnesota. Pearce would claim his first win of the series, and his fifth NWA championship, by besting Cabana in their Stage Four match taking place under as a Two-out-of-Three Falls match. The match took place on July 21, 2012, in Kansas City, and would see Pearce knock Cabana out with the championship belt in order to score the deciding fall. Pearce would go on a run for the next couple of matches, besting Cabana in their Stage Five Dog Collar match on August 18, 2012, in Bridgewater, Massachusetts and on September 30, 2012, in Stage Six’s Texas Death match, which took place in Salem, Oregon. It was from this point on that the series took a dramatic turn due to internal politics and a power struggle within the NWA. As outlined in the 2013 Seven Levels of Hate documentary produced by Pearce, Texas attorney R. Bruce Tharpe filed a lawsuit against the promotion that resulted in him eventually assuming control over the NWA brand. As detailed in the film, Tharpe would soon sever ties with most everyone associated, including Colt Cabana and Adam Pearce. The seventh and final Stage of Seven Levels of Hate would ultimately take place on October 27, 2012, in suburban Melbourne, Australia in a Steel Cage match. Cabana would win the bout and the series, but the behind-the-scenes unraveling of the NWA forced the match to remain "unsanctioned" by the brand, thus leaving Pearce technically still champion and in possession of the NWA title. After the match, both Pearce and Cabana verbally lambasted the NWA, with Cabana refusing to accept the title that Pearce felt he fairly won. Pearce, having lost the series, felt he had could no longer go on as the recognized champion, so both men symbolically dropped the championship belt onto the mat and walked off, leaving the NWA in the process. The "Seven Levels of Hate" series and documentary film